Corresponding author: Xiaosheng Chen (
Academic editor: Pavel Stoev
Members of the genus
In this paper,
Specimens examined were collected from the Island of Taiwan and deposited in the Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China (SCAU). The morphological terms follow
Measurements were taken using a micrometer attached to a SteREO Discovery V20 dissecting stereoscope and are defined as follows: (TW) total width, across both elytra at widest part; (TH) total height, at highest part of elytra in lateral view; (TL) total length, from apical margin of clypeus to apex of elytra; (PL) pronotal length, from the middle of anterior margin to the base of pronotum; (PW) pronotal width at widest part; (EW) elytral width, equal to TW; (EL) elytral length, along suture from base to apex including scutellum; (HW) head width, at widest part including eyes.
Male and female genitalia were dissected, cleared in a 10% solution of NaOH by boiling for several minutes and placed on slides for further study. Photographs of the whole beetles and their genitalia were taken using digital cameras (AxioCamHRc and Coolsnap-Procf& CRI Micro*Color) attached to the microscope. The final plates were laid out with Adobe Photoshop CS 8.0.
Body elongate oval, moderately convex, with dense pubescence, widest around middle of elytra.
Head with mouthparts directed posteroventrally in repose (Fig.
Pronotum convex, hind margin wider than anterior one (Fig.
This genus is apparently endemic to Neotropical region with a natural geographic range extending from southern United States (Florida, Louisiana and Texas) and Mexico to Argentina (
TL: 1.23–1.32 mm, TW: 0.87–0.92mm, TH: 0.67–0.69mm, TL/TW: 1.41–1.43, PL/PW: 0.52–0.53, EL/EW: 1.05–1.07, HW/PW: 0.61–0.62, PW/EW: 0.84–0.85.
Body rounded oval, moderately convex, dorsum covered with white pubescence (Fig.
Head with fine frontal punctures, as large as eye facets, 0.5 diameter apart. Eyes densely faceted, interocular distance 0.44 times head width. Pronotal punctures smaller than those on frons, 1.0–1.5 diameters apart. Surface of elytra with punctures larger than those on pronotum, separated by 1.0–2.0 diameters. Prosternal process very short, transversely oval (Fig.
Male genitalia. Penis long, strongly curved at basal 1/2 length (Fig.
Female externally similar to male but with black pronotum (Fig.
This species is similar to
Taiwan, Hawaii, Trinidad, Honduras.
There was some confusion about the taxonomy and nomenclature of
We are grateful to Dr. Shaukat Ali (SCAU), who helped to check the English text. Our sincere thanks are extended to the editor and two reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31601878) and the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (2014A030310493), the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (201509010023) and the International Cooperation Project of Guangzhou Science and Technology Innovation Committee.
X. Chen conceived the study and wrote the manuscript. X. Xie and X. Wang performed the laboratory work. S. Ren collected the specimens.
Figure 1. Main characters of the genus
Figure 2.